"We were on the same page all night" - Kevin Durant credits Brooklyn Nets' stellar defense for powering them past Chicago Bulls
Kevin Durant scored 27 points on a night as the Brooklyn Nets beat the Chicago Bulls 138-112 at the United Center. It was the highest-scoring game of Brooklyn's 2021-22 campaign as they brought up their 26th win of the regular season. Durant attributed the win to the Nets' terrific defense that led to a 26-point victory on Wednesday night.
Speaking during his post-game media interaction, Durant said:
"Defensively, we were on the same page all night. We talked. We communicated. Usually, when we do that as a team, no matter what's going on the offensive side of the ball, we put ourselves in a good position to win. Tonight, we fought over stuff. We played against three incredible scorers from all over the floor. We was able to beat most of their attempts."
He added:
"Usually, that is all you can ask for against players like that. Give a lot of credit to Kess [Kessler Edwards] and Day'Ron [Sharpe] for coming in, making it tough on Vuc [Nikola Vucevic], making it tough on Zach [LaVine] and DeMar [DeRozan]. We just played as a team tonight on both ends."
Kevin Durant and James Harden combine for 52 points and 25 assists as Brooklyn Nets win big
Kyrie Irving didn't make much of an impact in the Brooklyn Nets' statement win over the Chicago Bulls. Kyrie had 9 points on 4-of-10 shooting in 25 minutes of game-time. However, with Durant contributing 27 points (7-of-10, 70% shooting from the field) and nine assists, and James Harden coming up with a big double-double (25 points, 16 assists), it turned out to be an easy victory for the Nets.
Brooklyn had built up a 22-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. With Chicago unable to catch up in the final period, the Brooklyn Nets stars were able to spend a significant amount of time on the bench as the game wound down towards garbage time.
Speaking on being pulled out early from the game, Harden said:
"Man, one of the best feelings, honestly. It means, either you did something right or you did something wrong. Tonight was a case of doing something right. I think we were just engaged. We knew coming off that game in Portland that we had to bounce back and redeem ourselves and we did that in a very good fashion."
The Brooklyn Nets now return home for a two-game stand where they will host the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orleans Pelicans.